A study reported in The Online Times, to be published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that when a man meets a woman with blonde hair it’s the man’s cognitive performance that suffers.

In two separate studies, researchers led by Thierry Meyer from the University of Paris X-Nanterre, found men performed worse on tests of general knowledge after they were shown pictures of women with blonde hair.

The authors’ interpret their results as evidence of the powerful influence of stereotypes. Men are argued to have incorporated the stereotype that women with blonde hair have cognitive limitations to the extent that men take on these perceived limitations after being exposed to such women. People who accept stereotypes generally act in line with these stereotypes, e.g., people talk more slowly to elderly persons. While the origin of the stereotype that blonde women have cognitive limitations is uncertain, this certainly reflects the first time that it has been suggested that the end result of this stereotype is the lowering of men’s cognitive skills.